BRUNNICHIA BUCKLEYA 269 



BRUNNICHIA CIRRHOSA, Banks. POLYGONACE^. 



A deciduous climber, growing 15 ft. or more high, with slender, 

 grooved stems, smooth except at the joints, and supporting itself by 

 means of forked tendrils terminating the branches. Leaves alternate, 

 ovate, truncate or heart-shaped at the base, pointed; 2 to 4^ ins. long, 

 i to 2\ ins. wide; not toothed, dark glossy green, almost or quite 

 smooth ; stalk -i- to i in. long. Flowers small, greenish, arranged in 

 clusters of two to five on slender terminal and axillary racemes i| to 6 

 ins. long, the whole forming a loose panicle 12 to 18 ins. high. Calyx 

 persistent and surrounding the seed-vessel, enlarging and becoming 

 leathery as the seed ripens ; there is a wing -J in. wide on one side 

 extending down the flower-stalk, the whole ultimately about i in. long. 

 Only a proportion of the flowers ripen seed and develop in this curious 

 way. 



Native of the south-eastern United States; introduced in 1787. This 

 curious and interesting climber has not sufficient flower beauty to gain 

 it much recognition in gardens, and although introduced so long ago, 

 is very uncommon. It is perfectly hardy at Kew, where it has lived 

 without protection in the open for at least twenty years. It is the only 

 hardy species, and somewhat resembles Smilax in leaf and growth. The 

 name commemorates M. T. Brunnich, a Scandinavian eighteenth-century 

 naturalist. 



BUCKLEYA DISTICHOPHYLLA, Torrey. SANTALACE^:. 



(Garden and Forest, 1890, fig. 37.) 







A unisexual, deciduous, privet-like shrub, 6 to 1 2 ft. high, of lax, wide- 

 spreading habit; young shoots downy. Leaves opposite or nearly so, 

 arranged in two rows, lance-shaped or approaching ovate, rounded or 

 broadly wedge-shaped at the base, long and taper-pointed ; i to 2 \ ins. 

 long, \ to in. wide ; downy on the midrib and margins. Flowers small, 

 greenish, terminal on young shoots; the males J in. across, in a small 

 umbel ; the females solitary, much larger than the males, \ in. long, with 

 four spreading, narrowly lanceolate sepals. Nuts hard, one-seeded, 

 oblong, J in. long, furrowed. 



Native of N. Carolina and Tennessee ; discovered by Nuttall in 1816; 

 introduced to Kew in 1897. Naturally it is a parasite on the roots of 

 other trees, most frequently Tsuga canadensis. Very little success has 

 been attained in its cultivation here, although the seeds that are 

 occasionally offered by nurserymen in the south-eastern United States 

 germinate freely. A young plant parasitic on Tsuga lived for ten years 

 at Kew, but usually there is a difficulty in getting it thoroughly attached 

 to a host plant. Those who take an interest in remarkable plants of 

 this kind may like to experiment with it. The seeds may be sown in 

 pots under glass, and after germination planted near a host plant. 

 They can live for some time on their own stored-up food. Other methods 



